1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates generally to laser apparatus and, more particularly, to a low-cost laser range finder system architecture which can be easily reconfigured to adapt to a variety of pulsed laser systems including designators, range finders, high PRF imaging laser radar, and micro range finders operating off limited battery power.
2. Description of Related Art
In the past, laser range finder receivers have been individually designed for each particular application. Thus, a different receiver design has been employed for a range finder using a flash lamp pumped laser, for a diode pumped laser, or for imaging laser radar. Power supplies for such systems typically have employed multiple DC/DC converters and preregulators operating at all times. In conventional range finder systems, the entire apparatus is typically powered, even though some components may not need power 99.9% of the time.
Present laser range finder receivers are optimized at room temperature and, therefore, are significantly suboptimal at other operating temperatures. System sensitivity over temperature thus cannot be guaranteed. In general, present laser range finder receiver circuitry is extremely complex and costly, requiring, in one example, on the order of over 40 integrated circuits. Such circuitry suffers from unsatisfactory production yield, amplifier instability, and digital noise coupling into sensitive analog circuits.